Music News

24 Mar 2023

Neil Young Rails Against Ticketmaster Fees, Says, ‘Concert Tours Are No Longer Fun’

Neil Young has spent more than half a century as a dedicated road dog. But based on a heated screed the Rock Hall of Famer posted on his site this week, the road might have an end. Titled, “Concert Touring Is Broken,” the letter is a kind of addendum to the Don Quixote-like battle The Cure‘s Robert Smith has been waging against ticketing giant Ticketmaster over what both men say are its exorbitant added fees.

“It’s over. The old days are gone,” wrote Young under an all-caps opening line that claimed that TM fees are “at 30%.” Young wrote that he’s gotten letters from fans blaming him for $3,000 tickets for a benefit he’s doing. “That money does not go to me or the benefit,” he said. “Artists have to worry about ripped off fans blaming them for Ticketmaster add-ons and scalpers.”

“CONCERT TOURS are no longer fun,” said Young, who has mostly been keeping his road powder dry since before the COVID-19 pandemic (with the exception of a few benefit appearances). Young recapped the public battle Smith has been waging over the past few weeks surrounding his outrage over the additional fees tacked onto the price of tickets for his band’s upcoming North American tour, which, in some cases, exceeded the face value of the ticket.

Smith told his fans that the Cure were determined to make the tickets for their Songs of a Lost World tour affordable for fans and keep them out of the hands of price-gouging scalpers by going through TM’s Verfied Fans program and making them non-transferrable, with some seats available for as low as $20 each. But when Smith got wind of some of the fees added on, the goth rock icon went on a multi-day Twitter rampage that resulted in TM refunding fans $5-$10 on every order.

At press time a spokesperson for TM had not returned Billboard‘s request for comment.

Young’s post also linked to news reports about Smith’s battle with TM, which came after the company’s disastrous roll-out of tickets for Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour when TM’s servers were overwhelmed by demand (and an army of bots). The Justice Department has also held hearings looking into TM and sister company Live Nation Entertainment as part of an antitrust investigation.

24 Mar 2023

BTS’ Jimin Looks For Love in the Club in Late Night ‘Like Crazy’ Video

Jimin has a wild night out in a club in the sweaty, joyous video for the BTS member’s solo single “Like Crazy.” The Oui Kim-directed visual opens with a snippet of whispery dialogue from the 2011 romantic drama of the same name that starred Jennifer Lawrence, Felicity Jones and the late Anton Yelchin, in which JLaw murmurs, “I think we could last forever.”

The scene then cuts to Jimin standing in a green swirl of light in a packed nightclub as a Yelchin frets, “I’m afraid that everything will disappear.” Lawrence assures him, “Just trust me,” as the camera zooms into Jimin’s face and we see looking forlorn in a kitchen singing, “She’s saying, baby, come and follow me/ There’s not a bad thing here tonight.”

An unseen hand then grabs him and drags him to the crowded dance floor, where he walks in slow motion through the partying masses, taking shots, doling out high-fives and crowd-surfing his way through the night before inexplicably landing in a spooky hallway where the walls are bleeding a viscous black ooze.

“Give me a good ride/ I’m falling, falling falling/ Oh, it’s gon’ be a good night, Forever you and I,” Jimin sings on the dreamy chorus. The rest of the clip see-saws between Jimin dancing like everyone is looking to an exhausted rest stop in a freaky, Transformer-like rest room and parting shots of the singer revisiting the evening’s craziness before ending up at the kitchen table again, his right hand covered in the mysterious goo.

“Like Crazy” appears on Jimin’s just-released debut solo album, FACE, a six-track project that was preceded by the pre-release single “Set Me Free, Pt. 2.” With production by Pdogg, Ghstloop, Supreme Boi, BLVSH and Evan, the project also features songwriting credits on three tracks from bandmate RM.

Watch the “Like Crazy” video below.

24 Mar 2023

No, the Rhapsody Tour Is Not Queen + Adam Lambert’s Last: ‘You Can Always Do One More Time’

Since joining forces in 2011, Queen + Adam Lambert have quickly become one of the most successful touring acts in the world — and now, they’re ready to prove why.

On Friday (March 24), the internationally beloved rock group announced the latest North American expansion of the Rhapsody Tour, set to take place this fall. Kicking off at Baltimore’s CFG Bank Arena in October, the tour will make 14 stops throughout the U.S. and Canada, including shows in New York, Boston, Toronto, Chicago, Nashville and Dallas, before closing out at Los Angeles’ BMO Stadium in November.

For fans who saw the first North American leg of The Rhapsody Tour in 2019, fear not; the new set of dates promises an “expanded and updated” show, with guitarist Sir Brian May adding in a statement, “Our last tour featured our most ambitious production ever. So we decided to rip it apart and get even more ambitious.”

Billboard caught up with May, Lambert and Roger Taylor ahead of their official announcement, where the trio talked about what fans can expect from the new show, their favorite songs to perform live, and why “this is not a farewell tour,” according to May.

This is the first time in four years that the three of you will be touring the U.S. together, following your European tour last year — how are you feeling ahead of hitting the road this fall?

Brian May: It’s incredible, yeah. I think we all learned in COVID how much we really missed this. It was really tough for everybody. We already did our big outing in Europe, but with a lot of restrictions on that; we had a very strict protocol just to get through, because people were going down like flies. But we managed to get through that whole tour without losing a date, and it was all sold-out, packed, fantastic and better than ever, I think. So we thought, “Well, we just have to get back to the states.”

Outside of those restrictions, were there any significant learning curves you had to navigate in a post-COVID touring environment last year?

Roger Taylor: Not really, no, I think it was a huge relief to just get back to something approaching normality. That made up for the fact that we did have to have a lot of mask-wearing, and we temporarily lost a few people along the way. And it was a long tour wasn’t it?

May: Oh, yeah. 

Taylor: We were changing it and improving it as we went, and we are now going through all of those improvements again when it comes to this American leg.

I’ve noticed that the phrase “one more time” has been thrown around quite a bit when it comes to this tour — are you planning on this being Queen + Adam Lambert’s final outing?

May: Let me be clear, this is not a farewell tour. You can always do one more time … and then one more time … and then another time after that!

Adam Lambert: [laughs] Yeah, why limit yourself, guys?

Taylor: It’s just a simple, five year farewell tour, right?

When it comes to the “improvements” you’ve made to the show, what can fans expect to see that’s new with this leg of The Rhapsody Tour?

May: Well, we’re not gonna tell you that much, we don’t want to spoil it. [laughs] But the nice things is that the material is what ultimately gives the ideas, and we’re able to develop those ideas as we go along. We get to throw more and more stuff in, production-wise.

Lambert: I will say, the technology has come so far, even in the 10 years that we’ve worked together. It gives us so much freedom when it comes to what we want to create, what environment we want to put around a song. We have all of these toys that we get to play with, which we all get a big kick out of. We have an amazing creative team that work with us — I mean, we add something in a couple of days if we have a cool idea. Once the show kicks off, the show is never locked. It’s never the same show every night, we have the ability to throw a new song in, move the set around, change the visuals. There’s so much freedom.

That’s really interesting — how exactly do you go about adding new songs or new moments on the fly like that? 

Lambert: I’d say a couple of glasses of wine and a chat, yeah? 

May: [laughs] I mean, we also always do a soundcheck. The soundcheck is the key thing for us, I think. Every time we go into a new city and set things up, we’ll go into a soundcheck for two or three hours sometimes. When we’re doing that, we’ll try new stuff out, and our team is so flexible with us, that we’ll just throw out, “Can you give us a certain lighting effect, can you do stuff on the screens?” And they’ll build it on the spot for us. We don’t work on backing tracks or anything, which means we can kind of do anything we want. And we’re really fortunate to have a technical team that can handle that — a lot of this stuff is programmed to work at pretty exact intervals, and ours is all human touch, which gives it that live feel.

Lambert: Also, when we add a song sort of impromptu, we don’t like to over-rehearse it. We play it in that soundcheck and maybe one more soundcheck, and then we throw it in. It makes it really fun, like it’s a thrill-seeking activity, where we just go for it and see what happens. 

Brian, I wanted to congratulate you on your recent knighting from King Charles III — what was that experience like for you?

May: It was nice! It was a lot more exciting that I thought it would be, really. We’ve interacted with King Charles a lot — he was at Live Aid! We’ve worked with him on the Prince’s Trust, which is a wonderful charity that takes care of young people, over the years. So meeting him and having him actually do that for me, was actually a really big deal for me. We had a pleasant chat about how old age was treating us, because we’re about the same age [laughs]. It’s quite nice, I feel like it’s given me a little bit more power to do the work I do with animals. I view it in that light — not so much as a prize, but as a kind of empowerment.

And Adam, congratulations on your High Drama covers album — were there any big covers you wanted to include that didn’t quite make the cut?

Lambert: There were definitely a couple others I was considering, but it was a very thought-out project, so we weren’t wasting a lot of time or energy in the studio. We did it so quick, probably recorded those over about two months. I’m so happy with it, even though I did not write those songs, it felt like I was getting creative in the studio to find new ways to make them sound. That was such a cool challenge for me. 

Queen has one of the most prolific songbooks in modern rock music. Obviously there are the core set of hits that you’re gonna play almost no matter what — do you have any favorites in particular to perform that maybe aren’t as monolithic?

May: You know, there’s some stuff that we know would be very difficult — Roger mentioned “The Millionaire Waltz” once. 

Taylor: [laughs] Oh yeah, I don’t know if we could pull that off.

May: But a lot of the stuff we do anyways is fairly complex — the key is you don’t play the record. We really play how we feel on the stage. It’s funny, some people would call that a bluff, but there’s a lot of multi-track guitar harmonies in a lot of our songs, and I don’t do that onstage and I don’t use trickery to achieve it. I play what I’m feeling, and people hear that and get a purely live version of the song. No extra frills, because to me, recording has always been different than performing live. 

Taylor: Sometimes, the song gains a whole new dimension of excitement from that. But the live version will not be exactly the same as the record — that’s not what we’re about.

May: Some people will do that — they’ll have clicks and backing tracks and make everything sound perfect, but why do that? Why not do something that’s real and in the moment and ready to fall off the edge? 

Lambert: As far as the setlist goes, I think we’re all aware of what the fan favorites are. But the most important thing here is that, sure, we need to have fun, but the audience is buying a ticket to see the show. This is about their evening and giving them a show that feels fresh. We are keenly aware of what the favorites are and we try to include the big hits every night — they have a lot of hits, so it’s a lot to choose from. But it’s a two-plus hour show, so we’ve got plenty of time to get those big hits.

Tickets for The Rhapsody Tour officially go on sale Friday, March 31 at 10 a.m. local time on LiveNation.com.

24 Mar 2023

MIRROR Discuss Moving From Concert Accident to Making Canto-Pop Global With ‘Rumours’

Last summer, MIRROR made international headlines earlier than they had anticipated.

While most news stories noted how the 12-member boy band was revolutionizing Hong Kong’s music scene with a renewed fandom culture for local Cantonese pop artists, the focus was on the tragic accident at one of their 12 scheduled concerts at Hong Kong Coliseum. During the fourth show on July 28, 2022, a large overhanging video screen hit dancer Moses “Mo” Li Kai-yin head-on while also striking Chang Tsz-fung mid-concert, leaving the former in critical condition and the latter with injuries. The show abruptly ended with the remaining concert dates canceled as Mo Li and Chang recovered. Meanwhile, MIRROR and their team regrouped.

Nine months later, amid starts and stops due to the incident and pandemic-related matters, MIRROR took an unprecedented leap for Hong Kong music by releasing their first English single “Rumours” on March 17. A change from their Cantonese-pop, or Canto-pop, hits like “Warrior” (their 2021 social commentary fighting against dated norms with eight million views on YouTube), “BOSS” (the theatrical, funk-pop summer single), or “We All Are” (a piano ballad that marked the group’s fourth hit on Billboard‘s 13-month-old Hong Kong Songs chart), “Rumours” signals a new era for the group.

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With ages ranging from 34-23, the MIRROR members consisting of Lokman, Anson Lo, Frankie, Stanley, Alton, Edan Lui, Jer, Anson “AK” Kong, Ian, Jeremy, Keung To, and Tiger show confidence and maturity in “Rumours,” a significant step forward since their formation on 2018 TV singing competition show Good Night Show – King Maker.

Spiky, sonorous basslines soundtrack the group’s blend of singing, rapping and group chanting, while the James Bond-inspired music video shows the dazzling dozen donning dapper suits and high-fashion spy gear to pull off a mysterious heist.

The guys have spent their first five years together developing their boy band and individual careers alongside Hong Kong entertainment studio MakerVille, but agree that being together as 12 acts as a “base.” While still mentally and emotionally healing from last year’s accident, MIRROR say “Rumours” is a challenging but special project in partnership with Sony Music Hong Kong to help fuel their ambition to return to slaying the stage.

“We’re idols to these audiences; we have to stand up again,” says the charismatic Stanley, who leans into the camera when he speaks to Billboard over Zoom. The 32-year-old singer-dancer leads most of the interview alongside giggly, bubbly Anson Lo, 27, and Edan Lui, 25, to his right. “That’s what we should do.”

“We have a lot of people supporting us,” adds singer-actor Edan Lui, who listens and answers thoughtfully with pauses to find the right, and typically emotional, responses. “We can only say we’re ready to go to work and go on stage again.” Read more with MIRROR for reflections on the past nine months, their next chapter, plus song recommendations for new fans from each member.

To understand your background a little more, what are the characteristics of Canto-pop and how does MIRROR represent that?

Edan Lui: Canto-pop was very popular in the ’80s and ’90s, and the images around Canto-pop have traditionally been more for ballads and slow-paced songs; not really energetic or fast-paced songs. The lyrics have always been very meaningful and Hong Kong people can look into the lyrics deeply, which I think is one of the most unique characteristics of Canto-pop.

Anson Lo: But over the years, I think Canto-pop music has grown so much and I think there’s no difference between countries or languages in music. There are a lot of genres in Canto-pop as well, no different than in countries like Korea, the U.S. or Australia. There are different types of songs we can try or continue trying like we have for almost five years.

Stanley: Yeah, for sure. K-pop has taken over the markets for the past decade, but I do think Cantonese represents a different kind of style of music, especially in Asia. There are a lot of people who want to listen to music with Cantonese lyrics so there are multiple markets.

Paint a picture of the Canto-pop music scene in Hong Kong today. You were created on the singing competition Good Night Show – King Maker. Are there a lot of bands from reality shows?

Lui: There are many newcomers in the Canto-pop industry that come from our show, King Maker. We’re from King Maker One [the first season], there is II, III, IV, and V is coming. We’re just very happy to see that most of the new-artist award winners at many award ceremonies are coming from that show. It makes us feel like a family. It seems like these shows are producing all kinds of talents to contribute to the Canto-pop industry, so we feel really proud.

While you’ve been rising internationally, you had a tragic moment that had a lot of attention with the concert accident. In your own words, I’d like to give the opportunity for you to share what happened and your feelings on the incident.

Stanley: I would say, of course, it was a big accident. But this accident taught me how to treasure everything: Our job, friends, and opportunities to perform on stage. It influenced us so much for sure. We had to deal with our emotions—mentally, emotionally—so, it’s sad for sure. But we try our best to overcome all these kinds of feelings.

Lui: It was a big tragedy. No one wanted it to happen, no one could foresee it happening, and no one could really understand why it even happened. It was a really hard time for us, our dancers, and all Hong Kong citizens. We learned a lot from it, but we hope to learn lessons and try our best to treasure everything, contribute more to society and help more people. We hope our work and performances can bring back more positive energy and joy to our audiences again.

How are Moses and Chang Tsz-fung doing? Do you keep up with them?

Stanley: Moses’ parents share updates on Moses’ situation, so we’re not the best to give that update, but we’re in contact with them. I think they’re doing fine, everything’s going smoothly, and they are getting better.

I’m glad to hear that. Sometimes these situations can be very tough on the artist whose concert they’re at because they may feel responsible. So, how are you doing emotionally and mentally?

Lui: Different people have different ways of trying to get through it. For us, time is probably the best way to heal. But we also have our team mates, band mates, fans, and company. We have a lot of people supporting us. We can’t say we are fully recovered or even that we are “okay” after what happened—we don’t know—we can only say we’re ready to go to work and go on stage again.

Stanley: So many people are looking out for us; we’re idols to these audiences. We have to stand up again. We have to keep focusing on our work and bringing many great performances to our audiences. That’s what we should do.

As you somewhat close that chapter, you’re starting an exciting chapter with the release of “Rumors.” What does it represent in MIRROR’s story?

Lo: Simply, it’s talking to a girl and telling her, “If you ever heard a rumor that we’re cheating on you, liking you or approaching you.” It’s a very straightforward message. But it’s a very special project because it’s a dream come true for us to record a song in full English. The choreography is also very special because it’s, by far, the most complicated routine in our dance history. I think our fans have been really surprised by that.

Stanley: It’s a big challenge for us since the song is in English. We had to sing with different pronunciations and enunciations so we invited our producer Andrew…

Lui: Andrew’s actually our English teacher! He joined every session of our recording because we recorded one by one. Every session is, like, four hours so he’s really, really busy. He talked to us about pronunciation but also how to sing the song beautifully in English. But he’s really encouraging, supporting us, saying things like, “Oh, you did great, you sang well, keep going!” That’s why we can say we’re confident that it’s good. [Laughs]

Stanley: The lyrics are quite intimate and sexy—it’s not really similar to most Cantonese lyrics. So that’s a big challenge for us too.

It’s your first all-English song and you’re making some substantial changes. Why was it important to release an English song now?

Lui: We’re expecting to approach a broader range of audiences—like, maybe, the U.S.—and also we would like to meet our fans outside Hong Kong. I think releasing a full English song could get us far—hopefully! [Laughs] We’re looking forward to performing this song on stage for all the fans throughout the whole world so I think we’re pretty excited about that.

Stanley: Yeah, it’s a good step for the next chapter. We really want to promote Canto-pop to a worldwide audience, I think this English song is like a key to open the door for the audience to learn more Cantonese music.

“Rumours” kicks off alongside a new partnership with Sony Music Hong Kong. How is that so far?

Lo: We have yet to met a lot of people in the Sony Music company in person, but we’ve been putting a lot of input into the music, song arrangement, and music video so we’ve had quite good communication online and through our company.

Stanley: Due to the pandemic and the accident, so many projects have been put on hold. That’s why we’re starting over again, but I think we’ll have more opportunities now working with Sony Music.

Lo: It’s been like a dream and our honor to be working with Sony Music because they’ve helped us through a lot of things and, in a lot of ways, allow us to reach a wider audience, especially in the U.S., so we’re really grateful for that.

MIRROR is so solid as a group, but you’re also individually releasing solo music, acting, earning huge numbers on your individual social media accounts. How do your outside activities help MIRROR?

Lui: I think that is the special part about MIRROR—some of us are good at acting, some of us are good at singing, at dancing, in variety shows. Different members have different ways of pursuing their dreams. So, we have different [roles] when we’re solo, but it’s special that whoever is having solo success brings good things to MIRROR because MIRROR is our base. I think we have a good balance of group and solo [work]. People love us for us, and individually.

Lo: There will be dramas, movie shootings or solo singles, but being back in the group with 12 people, we shine even stronger and brighter. Together as 12 people, there’s a lot more energy; that’s more powerful for the audience and the performance. Being with the group really is a big part of being on stage.

Since “Rumours” may be the first time some audiences meet MIRROR, can each member share a MIRROR song to recommend?

Tiger: I would recommend the song “IGNITED,” it’s got quite an old-school sound but it’s my favorite of all MIRROR songs.

Anson “AK” Kong: Me too. [Group laughs]

Frankie: I would recommend “12,” it’s a Christmas song and that’s hard to find in Canto-pop because Canto-pop releases a smaller amount of Christmas music. But this song is really warm and about being together.

Lokman: For me, “IGNITED” too! Very funky, very groovy; I really like it.

Jer: I would recommend “Rumours.” [Group cheers] It’s such a high-energy song and it represents us as very sexy. [Laughs]

Jeremy: “BOSS” because I think it’s very energetic for us so it always makes me feel very happy and very strong.

Ian: I think “IGNITED” as well because it shows us a little bit differently than the other songs we have. And it’s actually quite unique in Canto-pop songs because we have this funky dance style so that’s pretty fun to present.

Alton: I have two ideas in my mind. “IGNITED” because I do love the funk style and, personally, I love funk music. But it depends on the mood of the day. If I’m going to a party, “IGNITED,” but if I’m going to a theme park, I’d recommend “BOSS” because the music video was shot in a theme park and is perfect for the family.

Stanley: For me, it’s “Rumours” because we put so much effort into it, so I hope listeners love it.

Lui: I also recommend “Rumors ” because I like the chorus; it’s refreshing. I also like the choreography, it’s really cool. We really put so much time and effort into this choreography so I feel like the performance of “Rumours” will be, maybe, the best we’ve ever done.

Lo: I’ll recommend “BOSS” because I think it’s, by far, the funniest music video we’ve had so far. It’s like a musical and we play different characters; it’s like a Broadway-type of vibe. When we released it, I think our fans were very surprised but also very pleased to see us in that funny way. So, I think it’s a really good experience to get to know the 12 of us.

Keung To: There isn’t really a proper English name for our first song [“一秒間”]… “In a Second”?

Lo: “During One Second”? [Laughs] Our debut song!

Keung To: Yes, our debut song! It was so important for us because it was our first song and our first time releasing as a group. It told everyone, “We’re coming.”

24 Mar 2023

Ed Sheeran Is Followed by a Blue Meanie In ‘Eyes Closed’ Music Video: Watch

Ed Sheeran processes love and loss, and crushes it into a pop pill for “Eyes Closed,” the first single from his forthcoming album – (pronounced Subtract).

Arriving at the stroke of midnight, “Eyes Closed” has percolated over several years. Sheeran originally imagined it as a break-up song, before “Eyes Closed” evolved when Sheeran “suffered heartbreaking loss,” which led him to revisit the track, according to a statement accompanying the new single and music video.

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Directed by Mia Barnes, the music video traces Sheeran as he’s followed by a blue monster, an allegory for grief — always there, constantly lurking.

“This song is about losing someone, feeling like every time you go out and you expect to just bump into them, and everything just reminds you of them and the things you did together,” Sheeran explains.

“You sorta have to take yourself out of reality sometimes to numb the pain of loss, but certain things just bring you right back into it.”

When considering concepts for the music video, the 1950 classic Harvey, where the main character has an imaginary giant rabbit as a friend, sprung to mind.

“There’s also a book I read my daughters where sadness is encapsulated by an imaginary creature,” he continues. “Often sadness is something that follows you around, engulfing the rooms you’re in, and you can feel and see it, but no one else around you can. So I decided to create my own big blue monster for the video. He gets bigger and bigger as the video goes on, til he takes up whole rooms, and is all I can see, just like sadness.”

Despite those struggles, the superstar British singer is rolling in a purple patch.

He’s just completed a lap of Australia, where he smashed the national record for most tickets sold for a concert, with more than 100,000 one night at the Melbourne Cricket Group. He broke the record again the following night.

That national trek, and the others that came before it, was produced by Frontier Touring, the Melbourne-based concerts giant, part of the Mushroom Group, founded by Sheeran’s bestie Michael Gudinski.

The Australian entrepreneur died in 2021, leaving Sheeran and many others wounded. Sheeran made the long haul for the Victorian capital to perform at the state memorial for Gudinski, where he debuted a song in his honor, “Visiting Hours,” which appeared on Sheeran’s most recent album, 2021’s = (equals).

This week, Sheeran appeared in a special promo video for Mushroom Group’s 50th anniversary celebrations, which will roll out this year, led by the company’s CEO Matt Gudinski.

Sheeran’s forthcoming album will drop May 5 via Asylum and Atlantic Records. It’s said to be a “soul-bearing” collection, written “against a backdrop of grief and hope,” during which time he processed Gudinski’s death, his wife Cherry Seaborn‘s tumor diagnosis and the loss of his close pal Jamal Edwards.

The Englishman wrote the 14-track record with Aaron Dessner of The National in February 2022.

He’s a perfect five No. 1s on the U.K. and Australian album charts.

23 Mar 2023

Lana Del Rey Drives on With Ninth Album ‘Ocean Blvd’: Stream It Now

Lana Del Rey has some strike rate.

With Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd, her latest album release, the alternative pop siren has a ninth full-length studio album in just 14 years.

With the exception of her self-titled debut EP from 2010 (which peaked at No. 20), every one of them has cracked the top 10 on the Billboard 200 chart, with two of them hitting the summit (Ultraviolence from 2014 and Lust for Life from 2017).

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Ocean Blvd should keep that streak alive.

Co-produced by Del Rey alongside Mike Hermosa, Jack Antonoff, Drew Erickson, Zach Dawes, and Benji, Ocean Blvd dropped at the stroke of midnight, and carries the previously-released singles “A&W,” “The Grants” and the title track.

The Angelino is the reigning Visionary Award winner at Billboard Women in Music. Speaking at the annual ceremony earlier this month in her hometown, she admitted to being happy with how it’s all going.

“I don’t exactly have a long-term vision at all, but if you were curious, I am very, very happy,” she said during her speech. “When I released my first album 14 years ago, the waters were not quite as warm. I’m really happy for everyone who feels like it’s a wonderful time in the culture to be themselves and express themselves. It didn’t feel that way in 2008.”

She continued, “I feel like being happy is the ultimate goal, so I did it.”

Her fans will be happy too, with a new album arriving just in time for the weekend.

Jon Batiste, Bleachers, Father John Misty, Judah Smith, Tommy Genesis, and SYML are guests on Ocean Blvd, which spans 16 songs and can be streamed in full below.

23 Mar 2023

Beyoncé & Adidas Walk Away From Ivy Park Partnership: Report

After coming together with Adidas in 2018 to relaunch her athleisure brand Ivy Park, Beyoncé has parted ways from the sportswear giant, in a move that sources tell The Hollywood Reporter was mutual.

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The split was reportedly due to creative differences between Ivy Park and Adidas, with Beyoncé excited to “reclaim her brand, chart her own path and maintain creative freedom,” The Reporter writes.

During what Adidas referred to as “a partnership of a lifetime,” Ivy Park launched several collections, with the first launching in April 2019. The drop was fully equipped with a massive PR campaign involving closet-size traffic-cone-orange boxes being sent to celebrities including Missy Elliott, Cardi B, Kendall Jenner, Angela Bassett, Ciara, Reese Witherspoon and Hailey Bieber.

Despite the glittery promotional content, Ivy Park apparently did not live up to the hype Adidas was anticipating when they initially promised Beyoncé “guaranteed annual fees and creative control,” according to a Wall Street Journal piece from February. Instead of producing the hundreds of millions in revenue that Adidas expected — the company hoped Ivy Park would perform similarly to Ye’s Yeezy brand — Ivy Park releases undersold, with roughly half of the merchandise from five of the six releases remaining on shelves.

The Wall Street Journal article also indicated differences in strategy between Adidas and Ivy Park when it came to marketing, with the German multinational corporation pushing for their own branding. At the end of 2022, Ivy Park was predicted to reach $40 million in sales, down from $93 million the year prior. Although Adidas was positioned to lose at least $10 million in 2022, Beyoncé was set to make the same amount in compensation as previous years: $20 million.

Beyonce launched Ivy Park in 2016 with Top Shop owner Sir Philip Green. When the partnership ended in 2018, Bey’s Parkwood Entertainment acquired full ownership of the streetwear brand. Despite the breakup, Beyonce has much to look forward to considering the frenzy surrounding her upcoming Renaissance World Tour, kicking off in May. The mega-tour has already caused mayhem among fans eager to see the superstar IRL and will begin in Stockholm, spanning dates throughout Europe and North America.

Billboard has reached out to reps for Beyoncé and Adidas for comment.

23 Mar 2023

Sabrina Carpenter & Coi Leray Join Forces for ‘Nonsense (Remix)’: Listen

A new remix of Sabrina Carpenter‘s “Nonsense” arrived Thursday (March 23) and features Coi Leray spitting on the track, as well as taking over the track’s closing signature cheeky lines in the final verse.

Leray hops in on the second verse on the track and details a relationship with a guy who can’t help but get overly attached to her in a short space of time. “Yeah, this boy got me goin’ crazy (Yeah)/ We just started dating, now he say he want a baby (Uh?)/ He said, ‘Coi, you so amazin’/ You a freak in the sheets and the streets, you such a lady’/ He like when I’m talkin’ pop sh–/ It’s your bedtime, come and lay up in it,” she raps.

And as for the track’s outro, which has seen multiple versions and changes from Carpenter herself, Leray shouted out the pop star for letting her hop on the track: “This song harder than keepin’ a secret/ He said my head’s crazy, I’m a genius/ What’s better than one pop star? It’s two, bi—/ It’s Coi Leray and ‘Brina on the remix.”

“Nonsense” was originally released as the fifth single from Carpenter’s fifth studio album, Emails I Can’t Send. A deluxe edition of the album, Emails I Can’t Send Fwd, was release March 17. The track peaked at No. 56 on the Billboard Hot 100 dated Feb. 4.

Listen to the “Nonsense” remix below.

23 Mar 2023

Jonas Brothers Think ‘The Album’ Is ‘The Best Body of Work’ of Their Career

The Jonas Brothers took to social media on Thursday (March 23) to give fans some insight into the creative process behind their upcoming sixth studio set, The Album.

“For the first time, the three of us are in the same place in life,” the siblings wrote on Twitter, “and as we continue to grow as brothers, husbands, fathers & artists, this project is a window into our lives. It’s the story of where we have been, what we have learned and where we are now.”

In a video shared with the tweet, Joe Jonas explains, “A lot’s changed since Happiness Begins was released. We’ve grown as a family and in turn, we’ve grown as human beings,” as pictures flash across the screen of him kissing wife Sophie Turner at Boston’s Fenway Park during the band’s Remember This Tour in 2021 and Nick Jonas and Priyanka Chopra play with their new daughter Malti.

Later, the middle JoBro cites Carole King, Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan as a few of his favorite musical “storytellers” before calling the new music on The Album “a real honest conversation.”

In a follow-up tweet, the brothers concluded, “We feel it’s the best body of work we have ever made. THE ALBUM is our story and we can’t wait to share it with you on May 12th.”

The Jonas Brothers already previewed several tracks off The Album on the final night of their sold-out Broadway residency at the Marquis Theatre last weekend, including lead single “Wings” and sure-to-be fan favorites like “Waffle House,” “Montana Sky,” “Vacation Eyes” and “Walls.”

Check out the Jonas Brothers’ latest tease of The Album below.

23 Mar 2023

How to Make Taylor Swift-Inspired ‘Lavender Haze’ Lemonade at Home

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It’s a Taylor Swift takeover! Swifties have been on cloud nine since The Eras Tour officially kicked off last week and will resume in Las Vegas on Friday (March 24).

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Several photos from the tour went viral, including a cup of “Lavender Haze” lemonade sold during Swift’s Eras Tour kickoff at the State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Ariz. The “Bad Blood” Sangria made its rounds on social media as well, but the Swift-inspired specialty lemonade seems to be a fan favorite — and it also happens to be a great beverage for spring.

How do you make lavender lemonade? It’s easier than you might think. To start, you’ll need around 3/4 ounce to one ounce of lavender syrup, a cup or more of lemonade (fresh or store-bought) and roughly half a cup to a cup of sugar. You can also substitute sugar with honey.

A Swiftie apparently shared the “official” Purple Haze Lemonade recipe from The Eras Tour on TikTok earlier in the week. The ingredients include, Empress gin, lemon juice, Falernum liqueur, rhubarb bitters and Elderflower tonic water.

We searched TikTok and Reddit to find other lavender lemonade recipes such as the “Lavender Haze” lemonade cocktail that was posted last October after Swift dropped her Midnights album.

The cocktail is made with dried lavender, fresh lemon juice, lemonade, lavender syrup, club soda and Empress 1908 Gin.

lavender lemonade

Liudmyla Yaremenko/GI

To make a non-alcoholic lavender lemonade, simply mix lavender simple syrup with lemonade, water and sugar (you can also add a non-alcoholic gin or vodka to make into a mocktail).

While there are plenty of lavender syrups in stores and online, such as Torani Lavender Syrup and Monin Lavender Syrup, you can also make your own at home. To do so, boil 1-2 cups of dried lavender flowers in a pot of with sugar and water (1:1 ratio). Once the lavender steeps, use a strainer to pour it in a cup, so the lavender buds don’t get into the liquid. Next, mix the lavender simple syrup with 1-2 cups of lemonade or more, depending on how much you’re making, add 1-2 cups of cold water, stir and refrigerate or serve over ice (you can also add a lavender flower as garnish).

Want more Swift-inspired recommendations? Read our roundup of outfits inspired by The Eras tour.